We’ve just rolled out a new version of the Open Platform Content API with a number of new features in it.

Editors Picks

It is now possible to get a list of the content that the editors have chosen as important f or tags and sections. This content list is the same as would be shown on a section front page (e.g www.guardian.co.uk/travel ) or displayed on a tag page (such as www.guardian.co.uk/travel/france ) as “editor’s picks” or “top stories” (unfortunately on the website the heading is editable so it may be called anything).

To get hold of the the editors picks list add a parameter of “show-editors-picks=true” to the api url for a tag or section and you should see a list of content in the “editors-picks” node of the output. To see this in action you can visit:

Unlike the list of most recent content in the results node on a tag or section request the editors picks list is not paginated and it is always ordered in the order the editor has chosen. It is also worth noting that not all tags and sections have editors picks associated with them, this occurs when the main site just displays the most recent stories with the given tag, this list is available as the results list on a tag or a section.

Guardian home page

As well as being able to get the editors picks on sections and tags we have added the guardian.co.uk home page into the API. To find this in the API go to:

You may notice that the home page urls look a bit strange when adding the .format or a query string. This is because the Content API maintains URL compatibility with the guardian.co.uk site and so the front has to have a path of “/”.

Currently the home page only displays the editors picks content list, this is the list of stories that you will see on the front page.

Filtering of result lists in item endpoints

We have standardised how the Content API applies filters, sorting and pagination. The filtering parameters (tag, section, q, dates etc.) are now applied to all lists of content that are displayed by the api (search results, latest content items for tags / sections, related content and editors picks). The sorting and pagination parameters similarly apply to all content lists, with the exception of the editors picks which are always displayed in their entirety in the order set by the editor.

We have updated the explorer so that you can apply these parameters to all content lists.

show-media and show-factboxes in search

As well as standardising the list filtering, we have also standardised the show- parameters that configure how content is rendered. This means that the “show-media” and “show-factboxes” parameters are now available in the search endpoint, so you don’t need to make follow up requests to get media etc. for each content item.

Note the show-media” and “show-factboxes” parameters are only available for people with partner api keys, i.e. where you have an specific agreement with the guardian.

Video media assets

If you have a partner key you can now get hold of some of our video files via the Content API. Setting the “show-media” parameter to video (or video and other types separated by commas) will return a video asset if available. The url of the mp4 video file is available as the file attribute of the returned media asset.

Please be aware that mp4 versions of our videos are not available for all of our video content.

GZip encoding, Etags and If-None-Match

To help reduce the amount of bandwidth used when you use the Content API we have enabled GZip encoding so that the output is compressed if your client supports it.

Additionally we now add an Etag to our response headers which your client can use to make an If-None-Match query for subsequent requests to the same URL. If there are no changes you will get a 304 response rather than a response with the entire xml or json body. For more information on Etags and If-None-Match see this article on wikipedia. (We actually implement etags as an MD5 of the response, though this may change in the future.)

The Qatar diplomatic crisis so far

27 June 2017

Cutting ties

Two weeks after Donald Trump visits the Middle East and throws his weight behind the Saudis, Riyadh and its regional allies cut diplomatic, economic and transport ties with Qatar, alleging links with terrorism

28 June 2017

Relationships break down

Saudi Arabia and the UAE order Qatar to break all links with the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Iran, as the US president appears to take credit for the coordinated action on Twitter

27 June 2017

UAE ultimatum

The UAE says any person expressing sympathy for Qatar could face up to 15 years in prison. Trump and Kuwait offer to mediate the crisis

27 June 2017

Qatar's foreign minister gives a series of defiant interviews, pledging never to 'surrender the independence of our foreign policy'. Qatar-based al-Jazeera comes under a sustained cyber-attack